THE REFRIGERATOR DOOR. Tick Tock.

Busy Schedule Has This Family Bushed

December 10, 2000|By Ross Werland, Tribune staff writer.

As part of its occasional look behind the walls of family privacy, Health & Family this time visits Alvin and Deborah Brown and their sons Jeffery, 9, and Jalen, 6, of west suburban Bellwood. Alvin is 47, and Deborah just smiles when asked her age.

She is assistant chief of patient administration and financial services at the Veterans Administration West Side Medical Center in Chicago, and he is a data-solutions consultant for Ameritech. Both grew up in the Chicago area. We checked in with them on the Monday after the Thanksgiving weekend.

5 a.m.: Deborah's alarm goes off. She showers and takes her daily supplements: a multivitamin for the body and 15 minutes of daily meditations for the soul.

5:30 a.m.: She packs a salad for lunch.

6 a.m.: Time to awaken Jeffery and nudge him toward the new week.

6:05 a.m.: She wakes up Alvin to help with the daily child-readiness project.

6:20 a.m.: As the rest of the family pulls together books and backpacks, Deborah makes all the beds and finishes getting dressed.

6:30 a.m.: Alvin heads out to the garage to get Deborah's car out and pull it around to the front of the house.

6:40 a.m.: Deborah and the kids head out. Alvin, who will be working from his home office, sees them off and heads back into the house to do a little cleaning.

6:55 a.m.: Arriving at the St. John's Lutheran School and Child Care in Forest Park, Deborah signs the boys in and they scamper off to the dining area. Jeffery chooses sausage and biscuits, while Jalen goes for his favorite: French toast sticks with syrup.

7 a.m.: Back in the car, Deborah heads to work.

7:10 a.m.: At home, Alvin tosses a load of laundry into the washer and prepares for a conference call with his sales team.

7:20 a.m.: Deborah arrives at the medical center.

7:30 a.m.: At her desk, she settles in with a bagel, milk and her e-mail. Meanwhile, back home Alvin starts his conference call, and at school Jeffery is reading a Harry Potter book while Jalen plays during before-school care.

7:50 a.m.: Employees from the midnight shift start briefing Deborah, in preparation for a staff meeting.

8:15 a.m.: She meets with senior staff members, while at school the first bell rings and the boys head for class. At home, Alvin grabs a bagel and showers, irons his clothes and gets dressed for the day.

8:30 a.m.: At school, the students begin their daily devotional, then say the Pledge of Allegiance. Afterward, they fill in their prayer journal. Jalen later will explain that he prayed for his broken Power Rangers toy.

9 a.m.: Deborah begins her daily conference call with managers at remote sites, while at home, Alvin puts in another load of laundry and sits to read the newspaper. He has had the TV next to his office tuned to MSNBC since he first went downstairs. He cannot stop listening to coverage of the presidential election.

9:20 a.m.: A coworker calls Alvin to work on quotes for a sales offer.

9:30 a.m.: Deborah starts returning calls and starts on paperwork that will carry her to lunch.

10 a.m.: Alvin looks through papers the boys brought home from school before the holidays.

10:40 a.m.: Still expecting a slow day of work, Alvin grabs a load of laundry from the dryer and starts folding and sorting. "I do the wash," he says. "Deborah puts it away." All the while MSNBC still can't tell him who his next president will be.

10:55 a.m.: Now the work phone won't leave Alvin alone. He has finished folding one load of laundry, but the dryer will spit out another load shortly. He is holed up in his office, in front of his computer. Though he can't watch it, the TV news remains audible.

11:15 a.m.: He leaves the office for a minute to sit in front of the TV. Still no president.

11:45 a.m.: Alvin is back in his office, going through e-mail.

Noon: At school, the boys are having meatloaf, carrots and potatoes.

12:10 p.m.: Deborah calls Alvin to say hello, then finishes some correspondence to get to her lunch.

1:10 p.m.: Alvin grabs the last load of laundry from the dryer and starts folding, while at the hospital, Deborah is grinding out correspondence, and at school, the boys are back to their studies.

2 p.m.: The work phone has recaptured Alvin.

2:40 p.m.: Alvin runs upstairs to grab the mail, then heads back to his office, where he is reviewing faxes that have been trickling in all day.

3 p.m.: Deborah starts answering e-mails that have been mounting up. At school, class is over and the boys have gone to the after-school care program. At home, Alvin's work phone has been getting busier and busier. So much for the easy day.

4:30 p.m.: The taxi is back in business as Deborah leaves work and heads for the school.